If there ever was an indication that the launch of the Steam Frame is imminent, it would be unboxing videos from popular TechTubers like Linus Tech Tips and its sister sites like ShortCircuit. The latter seemed to have briefly posted its unboxing of the VR headset, along with its accessories kit.
A couple of things should be made clear: first, Linus Tech Tips has previously gotten a first hand look at the headset while it was technically still a prototype. As such, this most recent unboxing video is evidence that they are in possession of the final product, as it were.
Second, as we mentioned, ShortCircuit’s unboxing was briefly made available on YouTube, but was made private, indicating that the channel may have published it by mistake. Unfortunately for the channel, copies of the video had already been made, not before copies of the unboxing were made and shared on other channels and, of course, Reddit.
Here’s what we now know from the new unboxing video: Then as now, the Steam Frame will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen3 SoC and have 16GB LPDDR5X RAM installed directly into the headset. Additionally, the headset will support Wi-Fi 7 2×2 and will ship out with a 6GHz dongle that will allow it to stream video content directly from the PC to the headset.
On a sidebar, Valve said that the dongle isn’t necessarily and can be bypassed as long as the user has stable Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, but having that optional extra is nevertheless for peace of mind.
Pricing for the Steam Frame is still a secret, but the video also shows off an Ergonomic Accessories Kit that ShortCircuit reveals will retail for US$60 (~RM244).
ShortCircuit also provided some interesting details, including that its review unit was not supported by the Steam Machine and was, instead, streaming from a Windows PC. As for the game used to test the headset, the choice was obvious: Half-Life: Alyx.
That brings us to the next point. Supposedly, Valve may be working on a native version of Alyx that will run directly on the Steam Frame, rather than being streamed from the PC. And as for the performance of the headset, Linus describes the display inside it as sharp, save for some colour fringing at the edges of the optics. The included controllers use a single AA battery each, with up to 40 hours of operation. It’s a somewhat odd choice, given that Valve could have saved itself the trouble by making them rechargeable via USB-C.
(Source: ShortCircuit via Kaartilage)
